1965 The FBI concluded a formal investigation, and declared the lyrics of Louie Louie to be officially unintelligible… after an outcry from parents in 1964 asserted the lyrics to be pornographic…

1973 Senate Watergate Committee began its hearings…

1975 Mick Jagger punched a restaurant window, and received 20 stitches – for his pains…

1978 The coffin containing the body of Charlie Chaplin was found. Swiss police arrested two men – a Pole aged 24 and a Bulgarian aged 38 – who confessed to stealing the coffin and reburying it. Police described them as motor mechanics…
[And you thought there was no motoring connection with these things…! 😉 ]

and… in 1981, a month after John Lennon was fatally shot, Ronald Reagan took the oath as 40th President… and was also shot… as were: Pope John-Paul II; Queen Elizabeth II; and President Sadat, who was the only one to be killed… Thatcher gave in to the miners; Europe’s first high-speed, 236mph, passenger train began operating; Charles & Diana were married; and a mystery disease was named as the Aids virus…

McEnroe & Evert-Lloyd won at Wimbledon; Ordinary People received the Oscar; Taxi and Hill Street Blues were the top TV programmes; Sailing was record of the year; Andrew Lloyd Webber/TS Eliot’s musical, Cats, premiered in London; MTV started running 24hr. music videos, with Video Killed the Radio Star; and IBM introduced its first personal computer, running the Microsoft Disk Operating System (MS-DOS)…

The 1981 F1 season began with the FIA fighting a battle with many teams over ‘ground effect’ aerodynamics, wanting to ban the skirts used to generate increasingly high cornering speeds and, by the time of the fifth race in Belgium, virtually every car on the grid failed to conform to the new regulations – most passed the scrutineers’ checks in the pit but were clearly illegal on track. In turn the new Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA), wanted to ban the powerful and expensive turbo engines…

Beneath all of this lay a power struggle for control of the sport between the FIA, led by Jean-Marie Balestre, and FOCA, led by Brabham team owner Bernie Ecclestone. The FIA were apparently siding with the manufacturer-run teams in an attempt to topple Ecclestone. Oh, what we know in hindsight…

Meanwhile, at Zolder, the Belgian GP was destined to go down in history as a fiasco…

. . . a weekend that highlighted the dangers of F1’s over-crowded pit lane. Thirty-six cars entered the race, and during Friday practice Osella team mechanic, Giovanni Amadeo, slipped off the pit wall and was killed after being run over by Reutemann’s Williams.

The drivers threatened to strike over the poor safety standards, taking their cars onto the grid on race-day, and joining an impromptu mechanics meeting at the front of the grid… but the race organisers nevertheless flagged the warm- up lap at the normal time, leaving several cars delayed on the grid, either stalled or with their cockpits vacant.

The resulting chaos when the grid formed up again at the end of this lap was exacerbated when Nelson Piquet missed his starting position and was sent round on another lap, with the other cars being held in position.

As the cars began to overheat, several drivers turned off their engines, among them Arrows driver, Riccardo Patrese, expecting another formation lap due to Piquet’s error. However, the organisers (under Derek Ongaro) began the start sequence as usual once Piquet had regained his position. Patrese was unable to restart his car and waved his arms to signal that he could not take the start… but… incredibly, his mechanic (Dave Luckett…!) jumped over the pit wall to help… Crouched down behind the car, the lighting sequence had already begun, and the start went ahead.

Most of the drivers avoided the stricken Arrows, but Patrese’s team-mate Siegfried Stohr was unsighted and crashed into the back of him. Fortunately the mechanic escaped with minor injuries but when the field, led by Piquet, returned at the end of the second lap, with the track still partially blocked, all the drivers with the exception of Piquet decided to stop the race of their own accord.

Ultimately Carlos Reutemann took his twelfth and final career win… as Nigel Mansell took his first podium… in a race that was stopped early because it ‘started’ to rain… the organisers belatedly playing safe…

His car may have won, but Frank Williams was far from happy. He summed up the fury at the needless injury and bitter wrangling over the technical rules, saying: “Why do people part with money to come in and watch this bloody fiasco any more? Can you give me an answer to that? Because I can’t give you one.”

“And I’ll tell you something else. I can’t think of a good reason to persuade my sponsors to stay involved in it, either. You can only suppress hypocrisy and lies for so long in this world. Eventually it all bubbles to the surface, and we’ve got it now. We’re paying for the past.”

It is not my desire to rubbish Mr Luckett on this site but to show how chaotic F1 organization used sometimes to be… and which now exists/still exists/will continue to exist.
[Delete as applicable…]

Nevertheless his action was foolhardy, at least, and I’m bound to wonder what caused such impetuous behaviour. Was it just the heat of the moment…? Was he just young and keen…? And what sanctions would be imposed on a team these days for such an action…?

Dave Luckett was an extremely able and experienced Chief Mechanic, who also worked with Alan Jones and Gerhard Berger, and has recently been involved with the American Le Mans series.

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17 responses to “On This Day in F1: 17 May”

Whaw, what a miserable race (weekend), only for tragedy @ Zolder to be even bigger in 1982… Quite gasthly to see Stohr’s devastation and body language after hitting the mechanic. Fantastic contribution BJF!

Hi BDP… Indeed, two tragic years – I just thought it was unfortunate that 1981 was comparatively forgotten… but at least GP organisation, at trackside level, has improved as a result. Does anyone remember Toto Roche…? Perhaps he’s for my next piece . . .

‘but behind the scenes its utter carnage at present’
That was my implication… but thought I’d let you deal with it… 😉
But… I can remember Monday Morning Blues… but what is the significance of Friday mornings…?